14 Dec 2020

Government will continue awarding projects to  citizen  construction companies if they complete jobs within budget and stipulated time without compromising quality and durability. 

Speaking at the newly completed Shakawe revenue office hand over ceremony recently, Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Development, Mr Mmusi Kgafela said that would ensure that citizen contractors were awarded government tenders instead of  their foreign competitors.

Government, he said, believed that most projects should be awarded to Batswana which  could only be possible if citizen companies upped their game, delivered and desisted from abandoning projects. 

Mr Kgafela lamented that in some instances government had to provide extra funds for financing incomplete projects that had incurred cost overruns.

He therefore applauded Hitecon Pty Ltd for having completed the project within budget adding that the quality of the workmanship was also not compromised.

Mr Kgafela said with the new revenue office, Okavango residents would no longer travel long distances to places such as Maun to access some services.

Giving an overview of the project, the ministry’s permanent secretary, Ms Halakangwa Mbulai said it was initially awarded to Tlou Holdings Pty Ltd in 2015 but upon dissatisfaction with the company’s performance, the contract was terminated the following year.

She said the ministry then started the process of appointing a new contractor with Hitecon, which commenced works in April 2018, emerging victorious.

“The contract was to run for a period of 52 calendar weeks. The contractor was therefore expected to hand over the completed project on 22 April 2019, which was revised to 31 May 2019,” she said.

Ms Mbulai explained that the completion date could not be met  due to a multiplicity of factors, including delayed appointment of the electrical sub-contractor, late facilitation by Botswana Power Corporation and the recent COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Finally completed in June this year, the permanent secretary said it was awarded at a contract sum of P44 million while the projected final account was anticipated to be about 43.5 million which meant there was likely to be a P500 000 saving.

Describing the new revenue office as a  facelift for Shakawe, Okavango MP Mr Kenny Kapinga commended government for the infrastructural developments taking place in the village.

He further described the fast growing Shakawe as a frontier town or the capital city of Okavango.

The village’s Kgosi Mutemo Mbambo added his voice to the applause saying the office would efficiently service the Okavango region. He encouraged government to ensure projects were supervised. Ends